Winter 2026

Hello, and thank you for your interest in the London program!  As much as I love teaching at Carleton, it’s always a thrill to go to London with students.  London is one of the most diverse and fascinating cities in the world, with sites from two millennia of urban life to explore.  On any given day you can go mudlarking along the Thames to recover fragments of the past, then go dance to UK garage at a world-famous nightclub or catch the next big drill artist at a local music hall.  It has theater that will totally change your mind about what theater can be, it has world-renowned galleries, museums, and urban architecture, and it has great street markets and international food. It’s one of the most stimulating and exhilarating places I know, and I love exploring and sharing it with students. A testimonial from a former participant:

“The London program was not only where I got to meet some of my very best friends at Carleton, but where I got to make some of my most treasured memories of my time at college. I could gush endlessly and earnestly about it: London itself, old castles and new theaters, book fairs by the Thames and chips with friends. Just consider this: winter is going to arrive. When it does, you can either be in Northfield, freezing as you make your way to Sayles in a blizzard, or you can be in London, grabbing dinner with friends before an evening performance at the National Theater. Up to you.”

The focus of this year’s seminar is how London has served as home and inspiration for creative lives and communities over the centuries, fostering the work of writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, actors, and so on.  We’ll be reading/viewing/attending their work, visiting their studios, and exploring the roles that the city has played in their creative processes, even as we explore how we ourselves can live creatively during our time in so rich and diverse a city.  If that sounds appealing, I hope you’ll consider applying.  And please do reach out if you have any questions about the program! 
Constance Walker

Learning Goals

• To understand how London is and has been imagined and constructed as metropolis, national capital, center of Empire, and global hub in literature, art, museums, and architecture
• To deepen appreciation and understanding of all aspects of theater, through regular engagement with live performance at a wide range of venues
• To gain a broad understanding of London as a multicultural metropolis through the study of literature and theater and urban field exploration
• To develop cultural and geographic knowledge, experience, and skills for perceiving London’s “living text” (e.g., its peoples, natural and built environment, and material culture)
• To challenge and expand our cultural, aesthetic, and personal values through exposure to new ideas and environments

Prerequisites

The program is open to Carleton students of any major.  Participants are urged, prior to the start of the program, to take a 100 or 200 level English course.

Course of Study

ENGL 279: Living London Program: Urban Field Studies (6 credits)

A combination of background readings, guided walks and site visits, and individual exploration will give students tools for understanding the history of multicultural London. Starting with the city’s early history and moving to the present, students will gain an understanding of how the city has been defined and transformed over time, and of the complex cultural narratives that shape its standing as a global metropolis. There will be short written exercises (creative and analytical), informal mini-presentations, and a final group presentation focused on a particular urban site.
Instructor: Local Staff

ENGL 281/381: Living London Program: London Lives (6 credits)

London has been a vibrant, multiethnic nurturing ground of creative lives and communities for over two millennia.   We will explore the city as home and inspiration for the creators of brilliant art, architecture, fiction, and film, looking at how the city shaped their lives and works. Visits will include field trips to Dickens’s Spitalfields, Woolf’s Bloomsbury, and Ali’s Brick Lane, among others. Students will also have the opportunity to study a London writer, artist, or creator of their choice.
Instructor: Constance Walker

ENGL 282: Living London Program: London Theater (6 credits)

Students will attend productions (at least two per week) of classic and contemporary plays in a range of London venues both on and off the West End, and will do related reading. We will also travel to Stratford-upon-Avon for a 3-day theater trip. Class discussions will focus on dramatic genres and themes, dramaturgy, acting styles, and design. Guest speakers may include actors, critics, and directors. Students will keep a theater journal and write several full reviews of plays.
Instructor: Local Staff

Housing

Students will stay in fully-equipped apartments in South Kensington and in small hotels and hostels while on overnight excursions. 

Excursions

Field trips within London will include the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, a walking tour of Bloomsbury, Brick Lane (the heart of the Bengali community), and Spitalfields, one of London’s oldest street markets.  Outside of London, we’ll visit Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, Sissinghurst Castle, and Monk’s House, Virginia Woolf’s 16th-century cottage, among other sites.